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Beware of mail scams

By Carolyn LeeThe Imperial Republican Darlene Jens has just won a total of $5.15 million! Between Saturday and Monday she received three letters telling her that her “identification” has been “finalized and approved” to become a millionaire. Oh. She has to send in either $19.99 or $20, depending upon the letter. Jens has no idea how her name got on some list. “I’m not sure how this all started,” she said. Jens is worried that older people on fixed incomes will read these letters and believe they’re real. “I’m sorry for these people if they fall for it,” she said, which is why she turned the letters over to The Imperial Republican for release. The letters are sent from different towns in New York. They don’t actually say what company they represent. They have “checks” attached with the million dollar amounts written on them. There are official-looking stamps saying “please complete and return document” or “deadlines enforced.” The sentence structure is foreign-sounding. The grammar is bad and there are mistakes in punctuation and capitalization. Hmm. Rob Browning of the Imperial Police Department said he actually had an elderly man approach him recently with a similar letter. The man believed he’d won money. “I told him to shred it, burn it or get rid of it,” Browning said. “Don’t respond. They’re just fishing. They’re trying to get people to cash them.” Browning noted that no one wins money by having to pay for it. In addition, if you didn’t enter a contest, you’re not going to win anything, he stressed.